Access to Work andDriver Support
ecdp Lived Experience reportAugust 2011
Access to Work and Driver Support: ecdp Lived Experience reportPage 2 of 14
Access to Work and Driver Support: ecdp Lived Experience report
Executive summary
A recent change to Access to Work guidance means that people who receive‘driver support’ from their Personal Assistant can no longer receive thatsupport if the PA is using their own car.This leaves Access to Work users with the following options in order to maintaintheir employment arrangements:
To insure their PA to drive the Access to Work user’s own car (if they haveone)
Have their PA insured on a company car provided by the Access to Workuser’s employer
Use a taxi.This change has been reflected in guidance issued to Access to Workadvisers, and has already started to take effect for people who receiveAccess to Work.The policy being applied by Access to Work advisors appears to directlycontradict guidance released by the Department for Transport concerningPrivate Hire Vehicle Licensing.The licensing bodies within local Borough Councils, who supply licences for Private Hire Vehicles, do not feel that PAs need to be licenced, especially inlight of the new Department for Transport guidance.There are significant cost implications for Access to Work (and thus the publicpurse) in applying this change: an indicative case study of someone with avisual impairment and so who can’t drive suggests these costs range from aone-off extra cost of nearly £620 to an extra weekly cost of £300.Since this doesn’t take account of travel within work or the indirect costs tothe PA of acquiring the licence, this is likely to be an underestimate.
ecdp
believes this change to be:
Inconsistent
: Access to Work’s guidance directly contradicts guidanceissued by the Department for Transport
Bureaucratic
: this change will result in extra hoops for people who receiveAccess to Work to jump through
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ecdp Lived Experience Report - Access to Work and Driver Support
Disabled people may be prevented from working due to government red tape
Disabled people may find it more difficult to get in and stay in work because of government red tape.
A change to the rules… (More)
Disabled people may find it more difficult to get in and stay in work because of government red tape.
A change to the rules… (More)
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